Happy Fourth of July!!!!

I hope you all had a happy fourth of July! I know we did!

After I got home from a 4 mile run with Annita (my Nike app is still not working correctly – even after recalibration – boo!) Seth and I got the girls ready to go to the parade. We timed it perfectly ensuring a spot in the shade to retreat to and a short wait for all the fun :-) The girls had so much fun waving (it is one of their favorite pastimes) at all the people in the parade and even got their first parade candy (nerds, which they enjoyed immensely!) The girls loved seeing all of the people and cars drive by. Mina was a little scared of the person dressed as Sparky and hid behind me when he came by, but nothing else seemed to scare them.



The girls at home ready to go



Waving at the fire truck



A member of the Special Forces gives Evie a shout out



The girls on dad’s shoulders at the parade

We decided to try the broken egg restaurant on the way home, hoping the girls would fall asleep with a full belly. The food was good, but the service was really bad. We ordered the girls food first so that it would come out before, and they had been finished for about 15 minutes before the server noticed we didn’t have our food yet. At that point he went back to check on it and came back 5 minutes later saying it would be another 5 minutes at which point we asked for it to go. We had been at our table for over an hour and the girls were beyond restless. It still took them another 10 minutes to bring it out and they ended up comping the meal at which point we packed up the girls and headed home. The girls did in fact fall asleep on the way home. The food was good when we got home, so we may give it another chance since it’s new, but it’ll be a while.




Mina sharing her glasses with her horse during the nap in the car.

After everyone (and I mean everyone) had their naps we decided to take the McCormick’s up on their invitation to join them at the Browns’ home for some pool time. I think the fun had is probably best expressed by pictures:



Enjoying delicious hot dogs grilled up by Jeff (photo courtesy of Larry McCormick)



Splashing Dad (photo courtesy of Larry McCormick)



The girls didn’t want to get out and were giving me some stern words when I made them sit and dry off (photo courtesy of Larry McCormick)



The girls playing with Judy and Jessica (photo courtesy of Larry McCormick)

After swimming we took the girls to eat at a new market in downtown Plano – Posh Nosh. The food was really quite delicious and the casual atmosphere was just what we needed since the girls were off schedule and a bit unpredictable. Seth would especially recommend their macaroni and cheese :-)

After our meal we decided to brave the fireworks despite them being well after the girls’ bed times. We knew they would really enjoy them. We decided to see if there was anyone at the girls school, thinking that would be a good place to try to see them that might not be as crowded – and if we ran in to some friends it would be even better. There were people there, but I doubt if any of them had any affiliation with the school. We decided to give it a go anyways and really had a nice time. I’m pretty sure Mina thought the fireworks were stars as we saw her pointing to them and then to the sky. They then proceeded to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” while holding hands and swaying. Seriously, you all should have seen it – cutest thing ever! The girls continued to point and ooh and ahhh over the fireworks, occasionally getting up to dance to the music. They really enjoyed them. After the finale, we packed up and they fell asleep on the way home.

I’d say it was a very successful Fourth :-)

A look at Fourth of July’s past:

The girl’s first fourth was spent in the NICU. I'll update with a pic of that day when I get home since its not on my phone.



The girl’s at their very first parade



Mina Fourth of July finger painting



Evie Fourth of July finger painting

That's it for now, I'll try to get an update out about the rest of the week soon, we've had company so my computer time has been limited. Take care till then!

- Via BlogPress on my iPhone

Par for the course

While I wanted to get a post up last night, I guess it’s better late than never ;-)

This past week has been pretty crazy (but then again, that seems to be par for the course here).

Seth had a PHP conference this weekend which left the girls and I to play by ourselves on Saturday. We had a morning of playing with our tea and ice cream sets and reading books. After naptime I took the girls to the mall and let them play on soft play equipment. It was a little crazy and they’re still getting used to places where kids of all ages run freely, but they had fun. We took a break for a mango smoothie and got watched the people jump on those suspended trampolines. The girls were just enamored with them. I didn’t realize that the lower weight limit is 20 lbs! Next time dad is with us I think we might have to let the girls give it a go :-) We finished the evening with dinner at La Madeline and met dad at home for a good night story before bed. It was a really nice day - except for the fact that I forgot about a freezer exchange that I was supposed to participate in on Sunday!

Sunday was kind of hectic because I probably took on a little much. We started of the morning with a night time diaper explosion which had to be cleaned up (impromptu bath as well) before I could do any of the other things I had planned for the day. After our quick clean up I had to run to the store to get the ingredients for our freezer exchange. I also had set things in motion to get things ready for making my first batch of sourdough English muffins so I thought I’d try to get those ingredients too. Unfortunately I spent a long time looking for some ingredients, only to find out that the store did not carry them. When I got home and started prepping things ready I did have some help from the girls peeling garlic cloves and putting them through our garlic press. I would have liked to have had more time to incorporate their help, but I was pressed for time and already did not have enough time to adequately prepare for the exchange so I had to go forward without their help. I made it to the exchange a little late and fortunately the other ladies were very gracious not to have made a big deal about it. Other delicious items were exchanged and I came back home to the girls.

When I got home we decided to get some other errands done so Seth and I then took the girls with us to go visit the birds’ parents to get some food for Walter and Perry. They enjoyed seeing all the birds at Treetop Bird Center. Even though she says they are very pretty, Mina is a little intimidated by the Macaws. The girls even found a tiny croc (as in the shoe) to bring home for the boys to nibble on in their cage. We also picked up a cookbook for birds that we hope to make some items out of soon!

After Treetop, we tried to get Seth some of the shoes he has been wanting at Run On but they were closed so we decided to have dinner at a restaurant close by. We decided on The String Bean Restaurant on Coit and Campbell and were really happy with our experience there. The food was good, the wait staff was beyond friendly AND they have a room for the kids to play in!!!! The last thing alone is worth a trip in just to check it out! I’d highly recommend going if you have a hankering for home-style type cooking, especially if you have kiddos :-)

We ended the evening with a trip to central Market to pick up some Spelt four (the item I spent forever looking for earlier, only to find out that the store didn’t carry it). Fortunately Central Market did have it (as well as a few other items we didn’t initially think we needed). The girls love going to Central Market, especially when they have all the samples out! The girls were worn out by the end of our trip (as were their parents) and went to bed rather easily.

Here’s a couple of pictures from the weekend:



Evie decided she wanted to take dad’s place at the PHP conference



Mina climbed up on top of the bay window the other night and fell asleep while playing in a tutu

Half Marathon Training:
The temperature in the metroplex has been super duper hot lately so I’ve been taking my runs to the treadmill on the weeknights. Doing this brought about the realization that my nike running app has been lying to me the past week and a half! It had sparked a new fire in me when it said I was running 9:20 minute mile splits on average – that sounded too good to be true. Well, it was. When I hit the dreadmill, I was really only able to do my training run at an 11 minute mile pace (without my heart rate spiking). This, combined with the heat (even indoors), totally hampered my mental state. Last week running outside I felt really good, went further and was running considerably faster (or so I thought). Why was I struggling so much this week? Surely it was the heat… Saturday morning I ran with Annita (5 miles on our schedule). I used the same app only to discover that we were .5 shy of our goal distance according to her gps than what my app was telling me. Good news is now I know what the issue was. I just need to swallow my pride and admit that I will not see a mile under 10 pace for a good while and go back to using my runzombies app which is much more accurate (who would have thought). It will take some time, but I will find my stride again. I’ve got to October before I have to go up against 13.1. I just need to remember that slow and steady will get me to my finish line.

Want to help me get to my fundraising finish line? You can always donate securely at – http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntx/nikesf12/tarathornberry

My Etsy shop is still in the works as I need to get my pictures uploaded of the fun things I have been making. I think I might actually be able to get some of the items up this weekend! Don’t worry, you all will have first dibs ;-)

Bonus Picture!


Silly face mornings

Have a great week!